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High Bloods
It happened quickly. Overnight, the greater Los Angeles area found itself in the horrifying grasp of a werewolf epidemic. Twenty eight days of the month they are no different than you or me--the High Bloods, who managed to go unaffected. But every full moon, they are the most ravenous creatures man has ever seen.
A new law-enforcement agency has been created to keep tabs on the those whose blood runs Lycan. Rawson is an agent for Lycan Control, and his job is to make sure all the afflicted are found, monitored, and kept at bay the night they change. But the Lycans in Hollywood have risen to cultlike proportions, and Rawson's job is getting tougher.
One night, a woman changes right in front of Rawson. And it's not a full moon. Someone deep in the annals of Hollywood has managed to trip the logic of the werewolves' being. Battling a rising tide of Lycan rights activists and a growing population of those who are choosing to be Lycan over High Blood, Rawson must carve a path to the top of the Lycan chain before all hell breaks loose.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 21, 2009
7 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
John Farris
85 books164 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
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June 14, 2013absolutely terrible book.
a) there were two typos in the first 20 pages (fine, this is forgivable)
b) author suffers from probably not ever getting laid, much like Stephen King's Dark Tower series or Arturo Perez Reverte's Dumas Club, women are both outrageously gorgeous, yet have very little sexual experience, yet, drop their clothes at a moments notice for the protag and say stuff like "my body is yours", i'm surprised the author didn't note that these women come as soon as the dude enters them, there's no foreplay at all, just straight banging and i'm sure a sandwich was made afterwards.
pathetic.
a) there were two typos in the first 20 pages (fine, this is forgivable)
b) author suffers from probably not ever getting laid, much like Stephen King's Dark Tower series or Arturo Perez Reverte's Dumas Club, women are both outrageously gorgeous, yet have very little sexual experience, yet, drop their clothes at a moments notice for the protag and say stuff like "my body is yours", i'm surprised the author didn't note that these women come as soon as the dude enters them, there's no foreplay at all, just straight banging and i'm sure a sandwich was made afterwards.
pathetic.
September 1, 2021
A cool police procedural horror novel--an alternate world where Lycanthropy is a virus and werewolves are regulated--written with a literate hardboiled style. If you like old school, post-World War 2-era, crime novels HIGH BLOODS will satisfy on every level.
May 29, 2023
I've had this on my TBR for a while. The premise of it seemed up my alley, but the farther I got into it, I just couldn't stick. Reminded me of a bad cop show with paranormal and body enhancement.
October 24, 2024
2016 Reading Challenge:
"A book you've been meaning to read"
High Bloods.
For starters, if you're looking for a good book about werewolves or really even containing some little interesting parts about werewolves, this is NOT the book for you. If you're looking for a good detective style book, then give this one a shot, because in reality that's High Bloods. A detective story with the occasional scene/mention of werewolves.
High Bloods was on my 2016 Reading Challenge list (A book I've been meaning to read), and early on I found myself struggling to get into it. My first frustration, the author is a "wordy" fellow. I can get the point with one or two descriptive guidelines, but this author just went above and beyond his dictionary and thesaurus use. I got bored quickly because, in essence, it was taking too long for him to get to the point. The supporting character, Beatrice, is my second problem. Apparently all she can do is whistle in various tones and throw a mean knife. That's it. Her supposed wicked knife throwing skills are not even menioned as much as her damned whistling. But yet she somehow managed to be a major supporting character in this book.
So, if you're looking for a good detective novel, with a whistling side kick, that throws in the word "Lycanthropy" here and there, definitely read High Bloods, otherwise, not worth the time to read if you're wanting a good werewolf novel.
"A book you've been meaning to read"
High Bloods.
For starters, if you're looking for a good book about werewolves or really even containing some little interesting parts about werewolves, this is NOT the book for you. If you're looking for a good detective style book, then give this one a shot, because in reality that's High Bloods. A detective story with the occasional scene/mention of werewolves.
High Bloods was on my 2016 Reading Challenge list (A book I've been meaning to read), and early on I found myself struggling to get into it. My first frustration, the author is a "wordy" fellow. I can get the point with one or two descriptive guidelines, but this author just went above and beyond his dictionary and thesaurus use. I got bored quickly because, in essence, it was taking too long for him to get to the point. The supporting character, Beatrice, is my second problem. Apparently all she can do is whistle in various tones and throw a mean knife. That's it. Her supposed wicked knife throwing skills are not even menioned as much as her damned whistling. But yet she somehow managed to be a major supporting character in this book.
So, if you're looking for a good detective novel, with a whistling side kick, that throws in the word "Lycanthropy" here and there, definitely read High Bloods, otherwise, not worth the time to read if you're wanting a good werewolf novel.
September 12, 2013
THIS BOOK WAS MORE TO MY TASTE SO TO SPEAK. IT DID GET A LITTLE BORING IN SOME PARTS, BUT I DID NOT LOOSE TOTAL INTEREST IN IT THOUGH. I WOULD RECOMMEND IT FOR MOSTLY ADULT READING DUE TO THE LANGUAGE, BUT OTHERWISE A NICELY WRITTEN BOOK.
It happened quickly. Overnight, the greater Los Angeles area found itself in the horrifying grasp of a werewolf epidemic. Twenty eight days of the month they are no different than you or me--the High Bloods, who managed to go unaffected. But every full moon, they are the most ravenous creatures man has ever seen.
A new law-enforcement agency has been created to keep tabs on the those whose blood runs Lycan. Rawson is an agent for Lycan Control, and his job is to make sure all the afflicted are found, monitored, and kept at bay the night they change. But the Lycans in Hollywood have risen to cultlike proportions, and Rawson's job is getting tougher.
One night, a woman changes right in front of Rawson. And it's not a full moon. Someone deep in the annals of Hollywood has managed to trip the logic of the werewolves' being. Battling a rising tide of Lycan rights activists and a growing population of those who are choosing to be Lycan over High Blood, Rawson must carve a path to the top of the Lycan chain before all hell breaks loose.
It happened quickly. Overnight, the greater Los Angeles area found itself in the horrifying grasp of a werewolf epidemic. Twenty eight days of the month they are no different than you or me--the High Bloods, who managed to go unaffected. But every full moon, they are the most ravenous creatures man has ever seen.
A new law-enforcement agency has been created to keep tabs on the those whose blood runs Lycan. Rawson is an agent for Lycan Control, and his job is to make sure all the afflicted are found, monitored, and kept at bay the night they change. But the Lycans in Hollywood have risen to cultlike proportions, and Rawson's job is getting tougher.
One night, a woman changes right in front of Rawson. And it's not a full moon. Someone deep in the annals of Hollywood has managed to trip the logic of the werewolves' being. Battling a rising tide of Lycan rights activists and a growing population of those who are choosing to be Lycan over High Blood, Rawson must carve a path to the top of the Lycan chain before all hell breaks loose.
February 7, 2012
Ehh.. this book had such a great premise and though its characters were strong, as well, it was ultimately lacking. Right off the bat, I was more than a little alienated by the terminology used - and while there was a glossary, I just don't understand why the first time the "new" words were used they weren't defined! Some were, but definitely not all, which took a while to get used to. Also, the most interesting part of the book (the werewolves and their new society) were hardly touched upon! I was MUCH more interested in that that than the actual plot. And while it is nice to have a werewolf book unaccompanied by vampires, it would have been nice to have more of the actual werewolves!! The ending wasn't terribly conclusive either.... It just felt rushed. I do think that this would have made a better movie than it did a book.
September 17, 2012
For what was supposed to be a horror genre werewolf story it managed to fail at both. It spends too much time gawking at crime-thrillers instead of psychological horrors and other werewolf stories. I say that because the werewolves in the setting feel tacked on, artifical. Werewolves in name only, they could have easily been replaced with vampires or some other creature they could make up and it wouldn't have changed the story a single bit. The horror elements weren't even present until the end where I felt a tinge of it, but not strong like it should be. It didn't focus on the emotions, feelings, or relationships of the individuals. Instead it spent all this time fleshing out this 'Brilliant' story that was totally unoriginal and uninspired.
October 20, 2009
This had the potential to be a good book. Weres are out, and there's a distinct class distinction between those with were blood - the bad parts of town and an increasing number of people in the US - and the high bloods who are human pure - gated communities.
This one was kind of stop and start. The story would get rolling and then something would come not right - not sure if it was the dialogue or the mystery story or what.
Some of the characterizations were interesting, though. In other hands, might have been a good read.
This one was kind of stop and start. The story would get rolling and then something would come not right - not sure if it was the dialogue or the mystery story or what.
Some of the characterizations were interesting, though. In other hands, might have been a good read.
October 5, 2009
Although this was sold as a horror, with a review by Stephen King on the very front, it read as more of a crime-thriller. As a horror story? Not so great-no chills, moments of creep, nothing. As a crime story? Very good, A+ moments. Interesting to read about familiar Orange County/LA County locations such as Irvine and Antelope Valley. Think modern-day crime noir with werewolves.
November 1, 2009
Interesting concept with noirish execution. But maybe overly complicated? If you need a glossary and then don't put everything in the glossary I think that is a point against you. More science fictiony than fantasy which was not what I expected. I would call it an urban science fantasy (if there is such a thing.)
February 3, 2010
I was only able to finish about half of this before I decided on returning it to the library. The pacing felt really odd, and all the slang and jargon felt ridiculous enough to keep me from connecting with anything that was going on. It got old fast.
There is a glossary, but I'm not flipping back and forth between that and the story for the sake of an otherwise average werewolf noir novel.
There is a glossary, but I'm not flipping back and forth between that and the story for the sake of an otherwise average werewolf noir novel.
June 19, 2016
A disappointing book that creates a very unique work in which werewolves and people live in together but fear is everywhere and people don't want to live yet part of the words don't ring true and the book is less horror and more detective story. I wish that it had been scarier but instead it has no scares despite the frightening world it created.
June 14, 2010
Awesome. Werewolves like they should be. Not a story about tween dudes with there shirts off fighting over one Annoying chick. Mr Farris actually creates a whole new set of terms used to describe the werewolves and there habits that makes the book completely original.
November 14, 2009
I pushed through to page 150 or so and just couldn't stay with it. I really did want to like it, but it felt too much like a SyFy Channel flick or a roleplaying game setting, and there wasn't a lot happening in the pages I read.
July 11, 2010
i couldn't finish this one. it seems as if he's trying to write another Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or Clockwork Orange. But with werewolves. And a glossary at the end. I hate glossaries, and pretentious fake "future slang".
April 25, 2013
It was interesting. Instead of the virus turning people into zombies, it turned people into werewolves. There's a whole police unit meant for this. It was good, but there are some loose threads that never get solved in the end. It was good though.
March 19, 2014
For the most part this book was a bore and a snore, plodding slowly along.
One of those books where, the entire time I'm reading it, I just kept thinking,
Get On With It Man.
This would have worked very well as a short story, but at 299 pages it just drags on and on and on.
One of those books where, the entire time I'm reading it, I just kept thinking,
Get On With It Man.
This would have worked very well as a short story, but at 299 pages it just drags on and on and on.
October 25, 2021
Trigger warning for repeated references to sexual assault. Also contains reference to eating disorder(s) without sympathy.
Not a trigger warning, but impacted my (lack of) enjoyment reading this book: this book contains several sexist tropes, including “’fridging”.
Not a trigger warning, but impacted my (lack of) enjoyment reading this book: this book contains several sexist tropes, including “’fridging”.
October 2, 2009
near future LA, cool "special division" cop type stuff, and WEREWOLVES. can't go wrong, highly recommended!
July 5, 2011
Picked up off the bargin bin at the Dollar Store...different type of read. Reminded me a lot of the old Mickey Spillane detective novels.
September 5, 2012
Long and drawn out story line. Took me forever to finish, did not suck me into the plot and the characters like most werewolf books.
December 24, 2014
There was too much going on and no clear ending.
November 19, 2012
Boring. Lots of errors and dull prose. Didn't make it past page sixty.
January 19, 2014
2.5 stars. It was ok and I kind of liked it but ....not really
October 10, 2020
I had issues with the overall characterization of the women in this book, almost all of them wanting the main character, for one. Sadly, I would be interested in finding out what happens to Pym.
March 2, 2025
2025 Edit: This story is so ridiculous and so memorable I'm bumping up the star rating. It's not really a 4 star quality book, but it's a 4 star book in my heart. Most people won't have this experience, but I want to sort it with the 4 star books instead of the 3 star books for my own purposes.
-----------------------------
Tentative three stars but you must go into it knowing this book is not very good. I had a three, maybe a three and a half star experience with a two star book.
(This book has a content warning for several mentions of rape and assault. It's all off screen, a character's backstory or a news story, and never graphic.)
High Bloods isn't a great book. It makes you look at the praise on the cover and think, seriously? Someone thought this was literally "elevating the horror genre into literature"? There's taking cover quotes worth a grain of salt and realizing how they will print anything to make a sale.
Part of the problem is that High Bloods (at least my copy, the red one with the stylized werewolf hand) is riddled with errors- spelling errors, repeated words, sometimes the wrong name is used in a sentence. Sometimes it's the paragraph structure, like two sentences in a row starting with the same word or name, or somebody's reply not making total sense with the rest of the dialogue. Some parts are just awkwardly worded. I would blame this on the publisher and not the author; publishing a novel is a team effort and whoever edited this should have done a much better job.
Beyond that, High Bloods book is basically hokey as all else. It has the vibe of a weird anime, combined with a knockoff Raymond Chandler novel (RC does indeed get name dropped in the story) and with hints of gritty cyberpunk. I love that it's set in LA, I love west coast and sunny settings, and I love that the werewolves in this will fucking kill you. They're monsters and will tear you the fuck up. And that is probably enough to get a lot of people across the finish line.
There is a sense of goofiness through it, too, which is why I say it's got an anime vibe. A couple characters, my two favorites in fact, feel like they could be out of Cowboy Bebop. Many people in the story aren't people, they're Big Characters. Sleazy movie executives, Richie Riches, kinda racist Latino biker gangs. There is a moment where the main character lists some celebrities who have gone missing: Lance Rodd, Linda von Hymen, Bucky Spartacus. A couple of toughs later on are introduced as Maltese Greek and Stork McClusky. The story is begging you to have at least a little fun with it. Go ahead and imagine them all as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters. And really, the weird characters are the reason for reading. There's some action and some killing and some gore but it is brief, flashes in the pan, and somewhat under-described. You're gonna have to like hardboiled conversations with caricatures of real people to get through this one.
Also great: the author put at least some medium-to-moderate amount of effort into the world building. We're in a depressing dystopia that is define by extreme class separation, and politics, media and social norms have restructured themselves around this disparity, which is also directly tied to the increasing werewolf problem. It works, it adds just enough depth that you can imagine the world beyond these extremely glitzy walls protecting the Beverly Hills rich from the werewolf populace.
The downside (to some at least): lots of traditionally obnoxious to borderline gross tropes. As previously mentioned, the rape mentions are wild. If you're a gorgeous and young woman in this book, there's a good chance you've been raped, possibly "repeatedly raped" or "gang raped." There is no further thought about it after the fact, making it feel tacked on. The kind of sexually violent backstory that some say is "realism," but books like this never seem to have the elderly, or men, be raped, despite that happening in reality. Nope, only the totally gorgeous babes. And if you're a totally gorgeous babe and you suffer any non-sexual violence or murder, you will be found totally naked, and your breasts will be mentioned. It's a sleazy kind of book despite the main character seemingly falling for the love interest the moment he sees her.
The main character also has a tendency to say some pretty bonkers stuff. He doesn't have an issue with being actively racist to get a rise out of someone (I hope that's the excuse there) and it is harder to ignore the comments about Latinos when every Latino character in the book is a murderer, rapist or both. He also calls a Japanese motorbike a "rice rocket" which felt weird. The most bizarre moment was (being vague to avoid spoilers here) he was forehead to forehead with a woman he'd known since she was a baby, in a sibling kind of way, with them both being terribly injured, and started waxing poetic about how even in tough times humanity will pull together and... want to "mate." He explicitly comments on his lust for her. Then some page and a half later, when another character (who wanted to rape her, of course) comments on her, he says "I changed her diapers, so back off." The whiplash. Is she the pseudo-sibling you helped raise or do you wanna fuck? And yeah it's weird if you say both, dude. (And yes, this beautiful woman is not free from being nude against her will later on.)
So you have gotta go in knowing it's got some weird stuff, and you've gotta go in knowing it's super under-edited and it's not always a smooth read. But if you're just fine with that, and you like werewolf stories enough to read a so-so noir, you're probably gonna have a fun time with this one! And if you're like me, sometimes finding a werewolf story where the werewolves actually rip throats out is worth any other minor flaws because that's what you're here for! You know if you're that kind of person. If you are, read this book. It's hilarious and cool.
-----------------------------
Tentative three stars but you must go into it knowing this book is not very good. I had a three, maybe a three and a half star experience with a two star book.
(This book has a content warning for several mentions of rape and assault. It's all off screen, a character's backstory or a news story, and never graphic.)
High Bloods isn't a great book. It makes you look at the praise on the cover and think, seriously? Someone thought this was literally "elevating the horror genre into literature"? There's taking cover quotes worth a grain of salt and realizing how they will print anything to make a sale.
Part of the problem is that High Bloods (at least my copy, the red one with the stylized werewolf hand) is riddled with errors- spelling errors, repeated words, sometimes the wrong name is used in a sentence. Sometimes it's the paragraph structure, like two sentences in a row starting with the same word or name, or somebody's reply not making total sense with the rest of the dialogue. Some parts are just awkwardly worded. I would blame this on the publisher and not the author; publishing a novel is a team effort and whoever edited this should have done a much better job.
Beyond that, High Bloods book is basically hokey as all else. It has the vibe of a weird anime, combined with a knockoff Raymond Chandler novel (RC does indeed get name dropped in the story) and with hints of gritty cyberpunk. I love that it's set in LA, I love west coast and sunny settings, and I love that the werewolves in this will fucking kill you. They're monsters and will tear you the fuck up. And that is probably enough to get a lot of people across the finish line.
There is a sense of goofiness through it, too, which is why I say it's got an anime vibe. A couple characters, my two favorites in fact, feel like they could be out of Cowboy Bebop. Many people in the story aren't people, they're Big Characters. Sleazy movie executives, Richie Riches, kinda racist Latino biker gangs. There is a moment where the main character lists some celebrities who have gone missing: Lance Rodd, Linda von Hymen, Bucky Spartacus. A couple of toughs later on are introduced as Maltese Greek and Stork McClusky. The story is begging you to have at least a little fun with it. Go ahead and imagine them all as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters. And really, the weird characters are the reason for reading. There's some action and some killing and some gore but it is brief, flashes in the pan, and somewhat under-described. You're gonna have to like hardboiled conversations with caricatures of real people to get through this one.
Also great: the author put at least some medium-to-moderate amount of effort into the world building. We're in a depressing dystopia that is define by extreme class separation, and politics, media and social norms have restructured themselves around this disparity, which is also directly tied to the increasing werewolf problem. It works, it adds just enough depth that you can imagine the world beyond these extremely glitzy walls protecting the Beverly Hills rich from the werewolf populace.
The downside (to some at least): lots of traditionally obnoxious to borderline gross tropes. As previously mentioned, the rape mentions are wild. If you're a gorgeous and young woman in this book, there's a good chance you've been raped, possibly "repeatedly raped" or "gang raped." There is no further thought about it after the fact, making it feel tacked on. The kind of sexually violent backstory that some say is "realism," but books like this never seem to have the elderly, or men, be raped, despite that happening in reality. Nope, only the totally gorgeous babes. And if you're a totally gorgeous babe and you suffer any non-sexual violence or murder, you will be found totally naked, and your breasts will be mentioned. It's a sleazy kind of book despite the main character seemingly falling for the love interest the moment he sees her.
The main character also has a tendency to say some pretty bonkers stuff. He doesn't have an issue with being actively racist to get a rise out of someone (I hope that's the excuse there) and it is harder to ignore the comments about Latinos when every Latino character in the book is a murderer, rapist or both. He also calls a Japanese motorbike a "rice rocket" which felt weird. The most bizarre moment was (being vague to avoid spoilers here) he was forehead to forehead with a woman he'd known since she was a baby, in a sibling kind of way, with them both being terribly injured, and started waxing poetic about how even in tough times humanity will pull together and... want to "mate." He explicitly comments on his lust for her. Then some page and a half later, when another character (who wanted to rape her, of course) comments on her, he says "I changed her diapers, so back off." The whiplash. Is she the pseudo-sibling you helped raise or do you wanna fuck? And yeah it's weird if you say both, dude. (And yes, this beautiful woman is not free from being nude against her will later on.)
So you have gotta go in knowing it's got some weird stuff, and you've gotta go in knowing it's super under-edited and it's not always a smooth read. But if you're just fine with that, and you like werewolf stories enough to read a so-so noir, you're probably gonna have a fun time with this one! And if you're like me, sometimes finding a werewolf story where the werewolves actually rip throats out is worth any other minor flaws because that's what you're here for! You know if you're that kind of person. If you are, read this book. It's hilarious and cool.
July 24, 2019
After being disappointed by the last John Farris book I read, I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed his take on Lycanthropy.
I’m confused by the negative reactions people had to this book. I guess people had certain expectations and this book failed to fitful them. It’s probably for those same reasons why I enjoyed it so much.
Without giving too much away, there’s room for a sequel thar would expand on the universe of High Bloods, though I’m guessing that this might not happen due to the response the book seems to have received.
I’ve read quite a few books from John Farris now, and I’m happy that out of the many only one has not really done much for me. I look forward to catching up with the ones I’ve yet to read.
Recommend for fans of hardboiled detective fiction with a splash of the supernatural.
I’m confused by the negative reactions people had to this book. I guess people had certain expectations and this book failed to fitful them. It’s probably for those same reasons why I enjoyed it so much.
Without giving too much away, there’s room for a sequel thar would expand on the universe of High Bloods, though I’m guessing that this might not happen due to the response the book seems to have received.
I’ve read quite a few books from John Farris now, and I’m happy that out of the many only one has not really done much for me. I look forward to catching up with the ones I’ve yet to read.
Recommend for fans of hardboiled detective fiction with a splash of the supernatural.
April 13, 2022
I'm not really into mysteries. I thought the werewolf aspect would keep me interested, but the MC was highly unlikeable and to be honest this book seemed to be aimed to a macho male audience. So not my thing.
January 16, 2023
Read in 2011. Los Angeles finds itself in the grip of a werewolf epidemic.
May 18, 2013
meh
first - this book (at least the cover version i had) was rather mis-marketed and labeled as a horror novel. Nope - mystery/detective story that happens to have werewolves. But never scary and not horrific.
Next - to describe it - all I can think of is this: if Artemis Fowl grew up as an old, ornery detective seeking werewolves - that'd be this book. Rather mediocre and disappointing
first - this book (at least the cover version i had) was rather mis-marketed and labeled as a horror novel. Nope - mystery/detective story that happens to have werewolves. But never scary and not horrific.
Next - to describe it - all I can think of is this: if Artemis Fowl grew up as an old, ornery detective seeking werewolves - that'd be this book. Rather mediocre and disappointing
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews